DELIVER Asia 2026 Conference Recordings

Across Asia, retail is undergoing a rapid transformation as brands integrate physical stores, e-commerce platforms, and digital customer experiences.

At DELIVER Asia 2026 in Singapore, Jason Ong moderated a panel discussion exploring how retailers are redefining seamless commerce by breaking down operational silos and creating unified retail ecosystems.

Industry leaders from Zalora, LUXEHOUZE, and Suyen Corporation shared their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities involved in delivering truly omnichannel customer experiences.

One of the most significant challenges retailers face is integrating inventory and operations across online and physical channels.

Historically, many organisations have operated e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores as separate business units, each with its own stock, budgets, and performance metrics.

According to Zalora COO Vykintas Mineikis, successful omnichannel transformation often begins with organisational alignment rather than technology alone.

Retailers must move away from treating online and offline operations as separate profit centres and instead manage inventory as a shared asset serving the customer across all channels.

Physical retail stores are also evolving.

Rather than functioning solely as sales environments, stores are increasingly becoming multi-purpose service hubs. They support order collection, returns processing, product demonstrations, and brand engagement.

For Suyen Corporation, which operates major retail brands in the Philippines, this shift requires a new skill set from frontline staff.

Employees must now handle a wider range of responsibilities, including customer service, order fulfilment, product consultation, and inventory management.

As a result, staff training and operational processes have become central to delivering a consistent omnichannel experience.

Inventory visibility is another key challenge in omnichannel retail.

For companies such as LUXEHOUZE, which operates both physical stores and online platforms for luxury watches, inventory management is particularly complex due to high-value products and extended purchasing journeys.

Rather than viewing inventory as simply “available” or “sold,” the company manages products through a detailed deal pipeline that includes inquiry, booking, deposit payments, fulfilment, and final delivery.

This approach allows the business to track inventory more accurately across multiple stages of the customer journey.

Retailers are also working to develop a unified understanding of customer behaviour across all channels.

Loyalty programmes and CRM systems play a central role in connecting customer activity across e-commerce and physical stores.

By capturing purchase histories and behavioural data, brands can better understand customer preferences and offer more personalised experiences.

However, the panel emphasised that technology alone cannot fully capture customer relationships. Human interaction—particularly in luxury and high-touch retail environments—remains critical in identifying customer needs and building long-term loyalty.

As retailers collect more customer data, protecting privacy has become an increasingly important responsibility.

Panelists discussed how companies must comply with local data protection regulations, such as Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act, while ensuring customer information is handled securely.

This includes strict internal access controls, regular compliance audits, and careful data collection practices that limit the amount of sensitive information stored.

Retailers must strike a balance between delivering personalised experiences and maintaining strong safeguards against misuse of customer data.

Omnichannel retail is no longer simply about connecting digital and physical channels.

It requires a holistic transformation across organisational structures, operational processes, customer engagement strategies, and technology systems.

As the panel concluded, the retailers that succeed in this new environment will be those that combine strong operational foundations, empowered frontline teams, and intelligent use of customer data to deliver seamless commerce experiences.